Satire: Agong's Fairy Tales

Tale 1: Deep Slumber

I am going to post the whole stories in parts. Each part will take several days or even weeks to post. Please be patient and don't take it as a joke. To cut a long story short, let's go straight to the story now:

There was an eccentric old man who liked to spend his time telling fairy tales to the children in his village. He had been living there for some years but nobody knew his real name. The children called him "Agong", a Chinese term of respect for an old man or a grandfather. On this day as usual, he sat on a rock under a tree outside his house with a group of children gathering around him eager to listen to his stories.

"There once lived an emperor with many daughters," began the old man. "On the 17th birthday of his second youngest daughter, he announced that he would choose three suitors for her on her 20th birthday. Then she would choose her spouse by throwing a ball of red silk ribbon at one of them waiting under her palace window. The ceremonial throwing of the silk ball to a suitor was a symbolic representation of the 'mandate' or 'legitimacy' from the people to let him be the emperor's son-in-law.

Many men who had been dreaming of marrying the princess were disappointed at the emperor's announcement. Hence it was not surprising that the streets of the capital were filled with men, young and old, rich and poor, protesting against the emperor's decision. The only people who were caught off guard by the sheer size of the protest were the emperor and his ministers."

"If I was there, I would also take part in the protest because I want to marry a beautiful princess," a 12-year-old boy interrupted Agong. All the other children broke into laughter at the cheeky remark.

Agong glanced at him with a smile, "Small boy, study hard before dreaming of marriage." All the children laughed again.

Agong continued his story: "There is an old African saying, 'When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.' There is an equivalent saying in Chinese, 'When the city gates are on fire, it is the fish in the moat that suffer.' Hence, not everybody supported the protest. There was almost anarchy in the streets. The capital was almost paralyzed by the protest. Business and all other activities in the city almost came to a standstill. There were a lot of anger and resentment in the business community against the protesters because many companies could go bankrupt if the protest dragged on for a long time.

At night, the crowd grew in number as more people from the surrounding countryside joined in the protest after returning from work. The protest became some sort of street party and celebration at night as the crowd sang and danced with candles in their hands. The sea of people stretched all the way from one end of the city to the other end. As the echoes of 'freedom to choose' reverberated throughout the capital, the emperor and his ministers had to cover their ears with their pillows while sleeping.

At this point, Agong stopped and told the children, "Sorry, I have to rush to the toilet. Please wait here for a short while for the rest of the story."

I have forgotten to inform the readers that the eccentric old man had a very weak stomach. Hence he often stopped halfway in the story to rush to the toilet. To him, "wait here for a short while" meant waiting for a long time, because he usually spent many hours in the toilet!